My Leadership Traits - Essay Example

Executive Summary As d in assignment task I completed a leadership survey that helped me assess my strengths and weaknesses, as well as analyse my leadership style. From these surveys, I self-assessed my goals, as well as assessed my leadership traits, my strengths and weaknesses, areas that I need to improve, and ways to improve them. This assessment not only helped me in my everyday role as leader, but also helped crystallize where I want to be in the future, and the steps I need to take to get there. Introduction and Background It is important that ones leadership style and ability be assessed. To this end, an assessment based upon my leadership surveys was undertaken. I found that my leadership style is largely democratic, which suits my basic personality, which is that of a conciliator, not authoritative. This is a strength, yet my basic nature is shy and reserved, so communication sometimes gets lost. While my shy and reserved nature is not completely a negative, in that it helps me think and process before speaking, it is something that I need to work on, for communicating ideas and being dynamic are two essential hallmarks of a leader. This report also has helped me ascertain the steps that I need to take to accomplish my goals for the future, and one of these steps is finding a mentor who can impart knowledge and help me with my weaknesses. Methodology I examined the surveys that were detailed in report one to ascertain my strengths, weaknesses and leadership style. From there, I took this information, synthesized it, and used it to answer the detailed questions in this report. Step 1 – How do you wish to be remembered as a leader? There are many different types of leaders. Transformation leaders are able to “enhance their followers performance beyond the personal and leaderships expectations” (Thomas, 2010, p. 9). Jung and Avolio (2000) state that trust is what makes a transformational leader effective. Trust in the leader is essential to lead through the transitional period, and help the followers overcome their apprehension, and overcome obstacles. They foster this trust by demonstrating concern for the followers needs, honoring previously made agreements, demonstrating capability in achieving the vision set forth, and by showing that they are willing to sacrifice their own well-being for the good of the organization (Harris, 2005, p. 8). Another type of leader is the servant leader. A servant leader is able to put aside his or her own self-interest in favor of the interests of those being led. These leaders are altruistic; are able to provide emotional healing to those who fail; are wise, in that they have a good grasp on any given situation that faces the group and knows how to handle these situations; have an excellent ability to persuade others; and understand how their organization impacts society, and are able to use their organization for positive societal means (Barbuto & Gifford, 2010, p. 5-7). Democratic leadership is another style of leader. A democratic leader facilitates conversations, and the staff is encouraged to share ideas and bring forth individual views and debate these ideas. Consensus building is a hallmark of this leadership, as solutions often come through consensus. All members talents are brought forth and encouraged. The team that is most advantageous to this type of leadership is a team that is composed of bright, talented, professional and motivated team members (Eagly & Johnson, 1990). On the other end of the spectrum is the autocratic leader. This type of leader issues decisions and the workforce is supposed to obey them, no discussion allowed. Employees opinions are disregarded, and the employees are basically told to “put up or shut up” - follow the directions or risk sanction. While there are many disadvantages to this type of leadership, mainly that employees feel diminished and powerless, this type of leadership is appropriate in some situations. One such situation is where a quick decision must be made (Miller, 2010). If I were to leave my organisation tomorrow, I would like to be known as a democratic leader whose positive outlook assisted my team in solving events, and also be known for my gregarious, friendly nature. I believe that these two qualities enable others to relate to me, so that I am on the level and one of them. This helps with the interaction with the team, for everybody must believe that they are a part of a team, and that I am just the team leader, not a tyrannical boss. These qualities are also inherent in my style of leadership, which is democratic. Every member has talents, and these talents need to be uncovered and nurtured so that these talents can be used to assist the team, and I would like to be thought of as somebody who has the ability to foster these abilities and bring out the best in everybody. What I think would actually be said about me is pretty much as I defined above, with a few changes. First, although I would like to be seen as somebody whose friendliness and positive outlook endears me to others and use these traits to motivate others, the people might not see these traits in me. I sometimes tend to be cool, quiet and reserved. I have a high degree of self-awareness, so I know my strengths and weaknesses, so I really believe that the democratic management style is the style that I practice, and I think that others see that and acknowledge it. I think that the difference exists because being friendly and gregarious is sometimes work for me. I tend to be introspective and like to analyze situations in my head, without necessarily sharing the information with others until I am sure that the information is appropriate for action, and stand back and observe before jumping into a situation. I also tend to be overly critical and obsess about minor details, going over every last detail on a project until I know that I am comfortable. Because this is my basic nature, it is sometimes difficult to project the image that I want to project in my democratic leadership style. I strive to be more dynamic, less critical, more open to everybodys suggestion, and more of a consensus builder, because that is what I believe works best and has the best results. I try to be somebody whose upbeat, positive personality brings out the best in others, and brings out everybodys special talents. But, because my nature is more reserved than this, I am afraid that others might not see me as being as dynamic, energetic, enthusiastic and extroverted as I would like to be perceived. How I am going to manage this difference is to practice social interaction at work, and really make an effort towards putting on a different persona while I am work than what comes natural to me. However, when I am not at work, downtime and personal space is very important to me, in order to recharge. Therefore, I need to make sure that I take time for myself, to be alone with my thoughts, when not at work, so that I can project a different aura when I am at work. Step 2 – What leadership style or position do you aspire to? The position that I aspire to is a Chief Nursing Officer. This position plays to my strengths – it requires a broad knowledge base, and the ability to multi-task and manage and oversee hundreds of nurses and nursing managers. It also requires strategic planning, budget development, overseeing new payroll systems, making clinical rounds, managing staff and patient issues and reporting to the board of directors (Berg, 2010). The knowledge base that is needed is that of different patient populations, and, as a nurse and Public Health Administrator, I have been exposed to all kinds of different patient populations, as well as gaining experience in executive functions and roles (Berg, 2010). In order to be successful in this role, I have to be meticulous, creative, a problem solver, and a team builder. This position is one that uses a diverse range of strengths, which is why I would be good for the position. My combination of democratic leadership style, perfectionist tendencies, innovative mind, positive outlook, and vision make me an ideal candidate for this position, and my background in both nursing and administration will facilitate my transition into this occupation. Step 3 – Analyse your own strengths and weaknesses My strengths are that I have great self-control when faced with setbacks, and am able to gain perspective on the negative side of managing people. Another strength is that I do not make decisions on emotion, but on logic and reason. This is important, because team members need to see that their leader is not reacting from emotion, because leaders who do lose respect from team members who might see that leader as unstable. It also helps my decision-making process, which gives the team more confidence in my abilities and my decisions and lessens the chance that my decisions will be questioned by my team members. I also have a lot of experience in managing a team, as my background is in public administration, as well as being a collaborator on a team, which is what I did every day when I was a nurse. Therefore, I can provide both perspectives to my leadership role – that of a leader and that of a team member. My weaknesses is that I sometimes am thrown by unpredictability and surprises. Although I can keep my cool when negative situations arise, if it is something that is completely out of left field that could not be predicted, I am sometimes flummoxed. I do feel that I am technically competent in the areas that are necessary for being a strong leader. I also have leadership experience, in my roles as a nurse and as a public administrator. As far as whether I am an outgoing person or prefer to do things on my own, I am really both. As I stated before, I am a facilitator and consensus builder, and enjoy bringing new thoughts to the table and getting the best out my team. At the same time, I tend to be introspective, reserved and observing, as well as being a natural introvert. Step 4 – Compare your current attributes with those desired in the future I believe that I might need some help with my communication skills. The reason for this is because I sometimes live inside my head, so to speak, as it is my nature to be introspective and reserved. Therefore, it is not always easy for me to communicate my feelings and my ideas to my teammates. As I indicated before, I strive to be a dynamic leader and more extroverted, because I feel that a good leader possesses those qualities. However, it is work for me to display these characteristics, and I would like to know how to be more extroverted and communicative with my ideas. A mentor could definitely help me achieve these goals. A good mentor, for me, would be somebody who is the type of leader that I would like to be, a democratic leader, and, since this is already my style of leadership, it would be helpful to find somebody who excels at this kind of leadership to show me how to go to the next level. There are still areas in my leadership style that need to be addressed, which are areas that I indicated before that need work. My mentor can also show me how to think on my feet more when the totally unexpected happens, and how to handle these situations in a way that does not make me flummoxed. The areas that I need to work on are the same areas that I have indicated earlier. I need to know how to get my thoughts out so that they help my team, and how to handle unexpected situations. I also need to learn to get more feedback from subordinates and clients, so that I can learn what areas need to be improved, from other peoples standpoints. Lastly, I need to know how to sometimes switch to an autocratic leadership type when the situation warrants it, as well as learn how to recognize what situations warrant this type of leadership style, and which situations do best with the democratic leadership style. Step 5 – Develop Capacity Although I feel that I do have a strong, broad, diverse background for the leadership roles I want to take, there are experiences that I need to have to make my background more complete. Since I plan on attaining a position that deals with many different types of patient populations, I need to make sure that I am aware of all the problems that are attendant with different types of populations. For instance, what are the special problems that might face me when dealing with an underprivileged population? What types of problems are inherent when dealing with the immigrant or minority population? What about language barriers? Other experiences that I need to have are those associated with working with different teams of people, to assess the culture of each team and how each team handles different problems. From there, I can have the best array of creativity and solutions to problems, so that I can take the best from each team and apply these solutions to the problems that come up in everyday life. I think that I should always attend training, always keep things fresh. Periodic training is essential, because different concepts are always being introduced, with new research on different types of leadership agendas. There are always new ideas that help in assisting leaders in building their teams and helping them lead, and this is beneficial. Also, in these training classes, contacts are made with others who have excellent ideas, and this is another way of gaining perspective and creativity in my own leadership style. As far as specific training goes, I could use training on the autocratic leadership style, because this is not my natural leadership style, but yet, it is sometimes necessary to use this style in certain situations. I need to learn the aspects of this style, and how to incorporate it into my leadership repertoire, and how to identify that situations that call for this style, and how to differentiate the situations that call for an autocratic style from the situations that call for my natural style, which is a democratic style of leadership. The way that I will ensure that these skills are used in the workplace is by using them. Perhaps I could make sure that one new skill is used everyday, and the next day make sure that another new skill is used, etc. In other words, I can go out of my way to make sure that all that I learn is put into practice each and every day. I basically need to be conscious of what I have learned and what skills need to be utilised. A coach or mentor would be very helpful in this regard. A mentor “understood as an expert guiding a novice in what is typically a one-to-one relationship” (Matthews & Crow, 2003, p. 72). The benefits of a mentor are that the mentored is exposed to new ideas by learning the “knowledge, skills and dispositions” of the mentor (Matthews & Crow, 2003, p. 78). They also enhance the mentoreds confidence to try new skills and takes new risks (Matthews & Crow, 2003, p. 78). This helps the mentored by giving new insights, becoming more reflective and critical and developing a network of ideas and promotion opportunities (Matthews & Crow, 2003, p. 79). The reason why a mentor would be helpful to me is because others have learned new skills and have learned ways to implement them in everyday life, so that these skills become routine and a part of the everyday repertoire. A mentor who can show me just how to put these new skills into place would be exactly what is needed to make sure that these skills become ingrained and not lost. Step 6 – Success The way that I will know that my leadership has improved is that I will have take an assessment of my weaknesses and see if they have been overcome or at least addressed. For instance, a major weakness is that I am too much in my head with my ideas and need help in communicating these ideas. If I find that it is easier to communicate these ideas, and that these ideas are coming into fruition, and my team is adopting my ideas, expanding upon them, and incorporating them, then I will know that this area is improving. Another weakness is that I do not always ask for feedback on my leadership qualities, and what needs to be done to improve. As one of my goals is to hold more staff meetings on what needs to be done to improve my leadership qualities, I can quantify my leadership improvement by seeing how much these staff meetings increase. The improvement in my leadership will be that I interact with others better, that I am communicating better, that my team is more cohesive, and that I am getting more consensus and creativity out my team. I also think that I will feel more confident in my abilities if I can achieve these goals, and feel that my team has more respect and confidence that I can handle any situation that comes my way. The outcomes that I hope to achieve will be an improvement in my weaknesses, an expansion of my strengths, and a concrete way of measuring these changes. Conclusion My leadership style is democratic, because I want to be a facilitator. However, there are weaknesses that must be overcome before I can become a truly effective leader. I need to learn how to communicate better, and not live in my head as much. A mentor can help in this regard, as well as show me how to get the best out of any team I manage in the future. Bibliography Barbuto, J. & Gifford, G. (2010). Examining gender differences of servant leadership. Journal of Leadership Education 2(9): 4-16. Berg, R. (2010). Chief nursing officer. http://career-advice.monster.com/job-search/company-industry- research/chief-nursing-officers/article.aspx Eagly, A. & Johnson, B. (1990). Gender and leadership style: A meta-analysis. CHIP Documents. Paper 11. http://digitalcommons.uconn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi? article=1010&context=chip_docs Harris, S. (2005). Changing Mindsets of Educational Leaders to Improve Schools. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Education. Matthews, L.J. & Crow, G.M. (2003). Being and Becoming a Principal: Role Conceptions for Contemporary Principals and Assistant Principals. New York, NY: Pearson Education, Inc. Miller, P. (2010). Leading and managing people, 4th Ed., Souther Cross University Press, Lismore, NSW Thomas, J. (2010). Bet you never heard of this leadership trait. Journal of Leadership Education 2(9): 1-3. Read More